Awards Night

Posted by Jack Murray on May 08, 2017

What a fabulous evening we had on Monday night at The Van's on the Hill in Belmont. It was time to award our club's Gretchen Ross Legacy Teacher Mini-Grants to local area teachers to pursue their vision of special projects or programs that they feel will advance their students' needs. This is a program unique here in the Bay Area, and it has grown and grown. And what fantastic ideas these great teachers have! They come from most of the local schools here in Belmont and Redwood Shores, and their names are shown in the photo above. Sharrie Kriger was this year's chair, and she organized a wonderful celebration attended by the winners and their families, along with Rotarians from our club and others. A great night!

Here is just a sampling of the great ideas of these dedicated teachers: (1) heart rate and blood oxygen monitors for biology and chemistry students; (2) earbuds with attached microphones for students learning Chinese language, to enable them to listen and share with the teacher and each other their progress; (3) software for students in calculus and computer science to facilitate inter-action and conceptual understanding; (4) new pH electrodes for advanced placement chemistry to precisely measure the pH of aqueous solutions; (5) purchase of summer reading books for 'at-risk' students who struggle with reading, to incentivize them with a resource for books which they or their family could not afford, and to provide books that are both of interest to them and meet their educational needs.

There are many, many more grants so this story can't list all of them, but every teacher who either won or just applied should be congratulated for everything they do for our young people!